


The Tome of Secrets

by Great_Raven_Parade



Category: Hilda (Cartoon)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Crossover, Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Gen, Story within a Story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-01
Updated: 2019-02-01
Packaged: 2019-10-20 14:50:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17624453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Great_Raven_Parade/pseuds/Great_Raven_Parade
Summary: Hilda and friends decide to play a game of Dungeons and Dragons, using the real adventures they've had as inspiration. When the head of the statue in Trolberg square goes missing under mysterious circumstances, it's up to Ranger!Hilda, Paladin!Frida, and Bard!David to track it down. But this mystery may lead them much deeper than they think....





	The Tome of Secrets

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Continuity note: The first few chapters take place in the time between The Tide Mice and The Ghost.
> 
> Hilda refers to Twig as a 'Foxdeer' in the campaign as a fun way to indicate that he is now deer-sized.

“Hilda.”

“ _Hilda_.”

Hilda’s focus snapped back onto Frida, who was sitting across from her at the study table.

“As I was saying, trolls are interesting, but I really think we’d have more luck doing our research project on something a little more…” She trailed off, frowning. “Hilda, I know those people behind us are being loud, but you could at least try to focus. Should we move somewhere else?”

“They’re playing some kind of game back there. It looks like they’re having a lot of fun,” Hilda replied, glancing back down at her blank notebook page. She fidgeted, tapping the end of her pencil on it a few times, but the action failed to make any words appear.

“Well, really anything seems fun compared this,” David complained. He was resting his head on the table and playing with the cover the book he was pretending to read.

Hilda peeked back up at the gap in the bookshelves behind Frida’s head. The young adults sitting at the table in the other row fell silent momentarily. There was a clatter as one of the guys threw a handful of dice onto the table. Someone sitting behind a large, propped up book murmured something, and the whole group suddenly erupted into cheers.

“Quiet! Be quiet!” The lady behind the book popped up, pressing her finger to her lips. She was clearly trying to suppress a grin, “As Librarian, I have to tell you to keep your voices down. But as your Dungeon Master….”

The group quieted down, talking to each other in hushed but still excited tones. “We did it! We killed the Basilisk Queen!”

“Hah- I really thought we were going to die back there…”

“Can someone please un-petrify my character?”

David flipped the book in front of him shut. “Oh, I think I’ve heard of that game before! People play it in the back of the comic book store, too. It’s about dragons I think.”

“Is it like Dragon Panic?” Hilda asked distractedly, though she could already tell that it didn’t look like the same game at all. This game was a lot more free-form, and the players seemed to be more focused on coming up with their own ideas for the adventure rather than following a set of prescribed actions.

“Guys, can we please focus? I’m not going to do this whole project alone!” Frida scolded. She turned her book around and pointed to a paragraph, “How about we use this?”

Hilda nodded, “Yeah, that will be fine, I guess.” The people on the other side of the bookshelf were putting their game away now. Hilda wished she had been here earlier, so she could have heard who the Basilisk Queen was, and why the players had needed to steal her crown.

Frida shrugged. At least Hilda wasn’t putting up a fight about wanting to do trolls for their animal report anymore. “Let’s find our research today, and I’ll get the introduction done tonight. David, you do the first paragraph, and Hilda, you do the second. We can meet again tomorrow night and make sure it all fits together,” She grinned as she worked the schedule out in her head, “I think we can get this done a week before it’s due, if we stay on track.”

“A week early? Frida, you’re crazy,” David exclaimed, “I don’t want to do all of that work in two days!”

“Well, you’re going to have to do it eventually. It might as well be tonight and tomorrow,” Frida countered.

Hilda signed. It would be best to stay out of the squabble. They’d end up somewhere in between David and Frida’s proposed work schedules regardless of what they planned out now anyways. She was just reaching for one of the books they had collected when she caught sight of someone walking out of the other aisle. She jumped up and ran towards them “Hey, wait!”

The Librarian turned, “Oh, it’s you,” Her tone was pleasant, but carried that mysterious hint of knowing. “I saw you watching us through the shelves. You liked our session, did you?”

Hilda beamed, “What was that game? I heard someone talking about elves, and swords, and- Well, David said there was supposed to be a dragon but maybe I missed it- “

“Calm down. No yelling in the Library,” The Librarian glanced around, but luckily no one seemed to have been bothered. The Library was usually fairly deserted at this hour, which is why she used it to goof off in the first place. “Look, I’ll let you borrow this-“ She produced a large book from under her arm. The front was adorned with a scene of an epic battle between a knight in shining armor and a ferocious beast. ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ was written in a stylized script above the illustration. “Read the first chapter, copy the back page, and come back tomorrow with your friends. We’ll play then.” She slipped the book into Hilda’s hands and smiled before walking away.

“ _Guys_!” Hilda exclaimed, turning around and holding the Player’s Handbook out towards them.

“Let’s get our work done first,” Frida cautioned, though there was a curiosity in her eyes as she studied the image of the knight and beast. It looked like they had leapt out of one of her favorite fantasy novels.

David threw his book open again and began to flip through it quickly, “Let’s hurry! That looks a whole lot less boring than this!”

 

 ***

 

“Well, at least this is one of your safer ideas. I never thought it would be you dragging us to the Library, Hilda!” David joked, kicking his feet as he scribbled on the character sheet in front of him.

“Oh, I suppose you missed the last two times we were here, didn’t you? Hilda can find plenty of trouble in the Library,” Frida huffed, “Were do you think she got the Tide Mice spell from?”

Hilda rolled her eyes, “I’ve already apologized for that like, a hundred times and it’s only been less than a week! I’ve learned my lesson about spell books. But this will be fun, I promise!”

“It’s ok, Hilda, you got our souls back for us in the end. Just… Don’t do it again,” David said with an uneasy smile.

Just as the trio were checking over their character sheets for the final time, The Librarian appeared. She set a few small velvet pouches on the table and glanced at each of the friends’ character sheets, nodding. “Looks good. I think you’ll like the adventure I’ve written for you today. You’ve all read the rules, correct?”

Frida and Hilda nodded. David suddenly became very interested in the bookshelves on the opposite end of the alcove.

“It’s alright, I’ll be here to help you,” The Librarian assured him, “There are dice in those bags. I’ll tell you which ones to roll when you need them.” She propped a few books up in front of her to hide her workspace, gave the trio a mysterious smile from over the tops of the pages, and began.

 

***

 

“It’s Trolberg’s beloved statue of Odin, you see. The head’s been lopped right off! The vandals must have gotten at it before dawn today, else someone surely would have seen them! I hope it’s not too much to ask that the two of you find the head and bring it back to us,” Headmaster Magnusson looked across the table pleadingly.

“What’s so special about the statue? I know it’s been in the town square for a long time… But why not just make a new one?” David asked, fidgeting with the tuning pegs on his lute.

“The statue is magic! It protects the citizens of Trolberg from all manner of fiends and magical attacks. We’ve got to get it back in one piece, and soon, or we may all be in grave danger!” The headmaster explained, his voice rising in both volume and pitch.

Frida put a gloved hand up in a reassuring motion, “Don’t worry, sir, we’ll do it. As students of Trolberg Knight Academy, it’s our responsibility to protect the kingdom in any way we can!” Behind her, David shook his head in exasperation. Fortunately, she couldn’t see, and Magnusson didn’t notice. “Do you have an idea where whoever took the head might have hidden it?” Frida asked.

Headmaster Magnusson readjusted his glasses, “Ah- yes, well, that’s one of the complications. From what we’ve gathered so far, we think the vandals have taken the head of the statue out of the kingdom… And into the wilderness. Otherwise our mages would have been able to locate it already,” He stood and walked to the door, continuing, “Now, I know the wilderness outside the kingdom is something neither of you have experience with, and that you’re going to need a guide. Luckily, I’ve already found someone that should be able to help you,” He finished as he opened the office door.

In the doorway stood a tall, white creature with a foxlike face, majestic antlers, and a blue-haired girl sitting on its back. The girl slid off and vigorously shook David and Frida’s hands in turn, “Hello! I’m Hilda, pleased to meet you!”

“Ah- Hilda, I don’t know how you do things in the Wilderness… But here in Trolberg, our horses usually stay outside…” Magnusson explained, taking a hasty step back from the animal.

“Where I go, Twig goes too. We’re a package deal,” Hilda replied, hugging Twig’s leg. He nuzzled her hair. “Also, I’ll have you know he’s a foxdeer, not a horse.”

“You’re the daughter of that new Cleric at the Temple of Frigg, aren’t you?” Frida asked, looking Hilda up and down, “I’ve heard that you grew up in the wilderness and that you’re good with a bow.”

“You heard correctly,” Hilda slung the shortbow off her shoulder and brandished it, “I could shoot that man in that portrait in the eye from here without even having to look twice at it!” She bragged, reaching for the quiver at her hip.

“Right- Right, I’m sure you could!” The headmaster chuckled nervously, looking back at the picture of Edmund Ahlberg, “But it’s getting late in the day!” He kept his eyes on Twig but moved to hurry the adventurers out of his office “You three had better get going now! _Right_ now! You can finish introductions on the way. Bring back the statue’s head and be careful outside the kingdom and all that!”

“But what about classes?” David asked as he was pushed out the door.

“You’re all excused for the duration of your trip. If you’re successful I’ll write in A’s for all of your assignments!” Headmaster Magnusson promised hastily, “Now please get going, and good day!” The door slammed behind Twig as soon as he had cleared it.

“Wow, free A’s? This is the best thing I’ve heard all week!” David exclaimed.

“They’re not _free_ , David, we’ve got to complete our mission,” Frida corrected. She looked up at Twig, who was trying not to scrape the walls of the narrow hall with his antlers. “We’d better get going like the Headmaster said. The longer we wait, the further away the Odin’s head could be.”

 

***

 

“This way!” Hilda pointed. Twig was sniffing the ground a few steps ahead of her.

David jogged up behind them. “How do you know?” He asked, unsure how Hilda could have picked out a path already.

“I’m an expert tracker! But also… I think they dragged the head behind them in a sack,” Hilda said, pointing to a face-shaped indentation in the mud. “They didn’t leave many footprints, but they sure left a lot of these."

Frida picked her way carefully over the mud in her shining armor. “Good eye, I don’t think I would have noticed that,” She complimented.

Hilda grinned, “Thank you. Look, Twig’s got the scent now. Follow us!”

They tracked Odin’s head for the better part of the day. Hilda and Twig took the lead, with David in the middle of the group making sure everyone stayed together, and Frida trailing behind in her heavy armor. The terrain grew rocky as they traveled out of the forested lowlands and nearer to the mountains. Dusk had tinted the sky dark orange by the time they spotted what they had been looking for.

“There! Odin’s head!” Hilda exclaimed, pointing to a round object propped on a stone in the middle of the valley they had just reached. She sprinted down the slope, finding new energy as the end of their mission came into view.

“Oh! Finally,” Frida exclaimed, clattering down the hill after her friend. She looked much more fatigued by the day’s hike, and eager to get this whole thing over with.

David hung back, feeling a sudden pang of doubt. Why had the vandals taken the head so far out into the wilderness, only to leave it propped up on a rock and completely unguarded? “Uh, guys?” He cautioned, scanning the valley for a danger he felt but couldn’t yet see. Beside him, Twig growled. Whatever it was, the foxdeer sensed it, too.

Frida skidded to a stop among the rocks below. “Come on, David, Twig? The head is right there! Let’s grab it before whoever left it here comes back!”

“Frida, I have a bad feeling about this…” David began, “It’s…” He paused, looking for the right way to try and explain the anxious feeling he was getting, “This is way too easy.”

Frida paused, looking between David and Hilda, who was still bounding towards the center of the valley. “I suppose it is… But… I don’t see anything dangerous right now. As long as we hurry….”

Hilda had already climbed onto the large rock in the center of the valley. She went to pluck Odin's head from it, grunting a bit as she realized it was much heavier than she had expected. “Of course… This was easy!” She panted, “We made a great team! I did the tracking and you guys… Well… Came along?” She gave a sheepish smile, realizing that maybe hadn’t been the best way to put it. “Anyways," She peeked around the stone head, looking for a way down, "Let’s get this back-“

The last bits of daylight had faded as the sun lowered itself behind the hills. There was a sudden cracking sound from the rock under Hilda. Suddenly, all the rocks around her were shifting. Pebbles scattered onto the ground and glowing eyes snapped open. Three, low growls suddenly rumbled through the darkness.

“Trolls,” Hilda gasped. She hoisted the head and leapt from the troll that was rising beneath her. The extra weight threw her off her landing, causing her to tumble to a stop right in the middle of the awakening beasts.

“Hilda!” Frida yelled, though she knew it was too late for the warning to be of any use. She rushed towards her new friend, drawing her sword and shield. She leapt in just in time to deflect the first blow from her prone friend. A crackling sound behind them alerted her to the second troll’s attack, and she turned swung her sword to ward off the stony fist that trying to hammer down at the two adventurers. “Drop the statue and get up, Hilda! We’re going to have to fight our way out of here!”

David felt his stomach lurch at the close call. He had to do something, but what could he do? He pulled his lute from his belt and began trying to tune it, though tuning was a long, fiddly process that didn’t lend itself well to moments of stress.

Beside David, Twig bolted into the fray. Hilda let go of the statue’s head as she scrambled up and ran towards him, jumping onto him in a smooth, practiced motion. She pulled her bow from her back and fired an arrow at one of the trolls Frida was fighting. The arrow bounced off and fell uselessly to the ground, failing to pierce the tough, rocky hides of their backs. She fired two more before shouting “My arrows aren’t doing anything!”

Frida kept blocking and slashing furiously, but the trolls around her were closing in. “Well, I can’t fight all of them alone! We’ve got to get out-“ She was cut off abruptly as the largest troll slapped her sword from her hand and grabbed her.

“Frida!” Hilda screamed. She fired another arrow, distracting the troll that had Frida in its grasp, but not stopping it. The troll she had tried shooting turned towards her and Twig. She’d have to choose between trying to escape and trying to help her friend. She leaned down against Twig’s neck and steered him towards Frida.

David looked from his instrument, to Hilda, to Frida, to his instrument again. Panicking, he let go of the tuning pegs and flipped the lute into playing position.

FTWANGGG

The instrument let out a horrid screech of a note. The sound traveled outward in a shock wave, hitting the trolls below and causing them to flinch. Frida slipped from the largest one’s fist and hit the ground, scrambling for her sword.  
Twig whimpered at the noise, but Hilda dug her knees into his side. “Come on, boy, this is our shot!” The Deerfox continued his charge towards the trolls, swinging his antlers and gashing the nearest one across its side. Hilda reached down and grabbed Frida’s arm, pulling her up onto Twig’s back as they rode through the knot of trolls and out the other side to safety. Twig stopped several yards away and turned back around, pawing the ground.

The trolls however, did not seem so eager to keep fighting. The one with the wound fell to one knee. The largest one knelt with it, then glared at the adventurers with its glowing eyes. It made no move to attack again, however.

Hilda stood on Twig’s back and held her bow in front of her, another arrow nocked. “We just came for Odin's head. Give it back and we won’t have to fight anymore,” She called. Though she felt a hint of guilt as she surveyed the wounds she and her friends had inflicted.

The third troll lurched like it meant to charge Hilda, Frida, and Twig, but the largest one gave it a look, and it stopped. They all stared back at Hilda as if they didn’t understand.

“The… Stone… Head,” Hilda repeated, pointing to the object at their feet. The largest troll picked it up and examined it, as if it had never seen it before.

“They weren’t the ones that took it,” Hilda muttered to herself, “Of course they weren’t…” Trolls would have left distinct footprints, and they wouldn’t have been able to get in and out of the kingdom so inconspicuously. Not to mention, they wouldn’t have been able to steal it at dawn or travel with it in broad daylight.

The troll looked at them again and rolled the head gently towards Twig. Though, ‘gentle’ for a troll still carried enough force to make the foxdeer have to scramble out of the way to avoid being bowled off his feet.

The rough motion caused Hilda to fall back down into a sitting position and slam against Frida. The other girl let out a pained, wheezing grunt. Hilda’s blood ran cold and she turned to see her friend clutching her chest. Under Frida’s arms, her chest plate looked like a piece of clay that someone had squeezed in their fist.

“Frida? Are you okay?” Hilda gasped.

“I’m… Fine. Get the head and let’s get away from here,” Frida instructed through gritted teeth

“Stay on Twig,” Hilda told her. She slid off and grabbed the head, and the three of them walked slowly back towards David. They exchanged wary glances with the trolls as they moved, both parties being careful not to turn their backs on the other.

David was clutching his lute with white knuckles as they approached. “That looks really bad…” He said quietly, staring at Frida’s crushed armor. She almost certainly had several broken ribs underneath.

Frida nodded, “I’m… fine,” She repeated. She didn’t remove her hands from her chest guard. It hurt to move even that much. Instead she let the small amount of holy magic she possessed flow through them. Soft, yellow light emanated from her palms where they met her chest guard. She held her breath as the healing magic worked. Suddenly the light cut off and she spluttered and gasped again.

“Frida!” Hilda cried.

David ran towards Frida, “Frida, stop! We need to get the armor off first, or it’s going to keep crushing your chest!”

“But… It’s got my family crest on it. I can’t… lose this armor! My parents… will be... so mad!” Frida exclaimed. Her breaths were too shallow for her to shout. She tried sliding off Twig and towards David, but found herself crumpling to the ground.

“We can get it fixed when we get back to Trolberg,” David assured her. “Hilda, do you have a dagger?”

David helped Frida sit, and Hilda went about cutting the leather straps holding the chest piece on. There was no way they would have been able to undo them and take the armor off normally. Even after the straps were cut, it took careful prying with the dull side of the knife around each edge, and Hilda and David’s combined strength to loosen the two pieces enough to get them off.

Frida gasped as the metal was lifted away from her chest, allowing her to breathe deeply once more. “Thank you,” She managed between breaths. The chainmail underneath her plate armor was badly disheveled and bent in some places, but still wearable for the time being.

David finished tuning his instrument and lifted it to play a healing song, since Frida had wasted her own healing magic already. He was about to hit the first chord when Hilda suddenly interrupted.

“David, can you play your healing song for the trolls, too?” She asked, clutching one arm guiltily as she looked back at the troll with the gash in its side. It was lying listlessly as the other two tried pressing moss into the wound.

“You want me to do what?” David asked, “They stole the head and attacked us!”

“They didn’t steal it! We would have known right away if it had been trolls. They can’t travel in daylight anyway, so even if they had wanted to…” She trailed off.

David didn’t seem convinced. “Well, they still attacked us! They almost killed Frida!” He exclaimed.

“We trespassed on their territory. How would you like it if three people barged into your room while you were sleeping?” Hilda asked. Maybe it didn’t make it right that the trolls had attacked them and hurt Frida, but withholding help from someone in need wasn’t right, either. Trading a wrong for a wrong wouldn’t do anyone any good.

David looked back down at his lute and plucked a few quiet notes, scowling.

“David, please?” Hilda begged.

David caved. “Alright fine. But I’m healing Frida first, and you’re going over there with me!” He turned, muttering under his breath and shaking his head before starting the song. It was a quiet, restful melody that washed over the group, and brought the feeling that everything would turn out okay. Hilda felt the bruises she had taken from her fall stop aching. Frida relaxed and let her arms fall from where they had been clutching her sides.

“Frida, wait here for a little while. You got hurt really bad, so it might take a few minutes for the magic to heal you completely,” David explained softly.

Frida nodded and looked towards the trolls, “Please don’t do anything stupid,” She said.

“Too late for that…” David muttered, beginning down the slope with Hilda in tow.

Hilda and David stopped several yards away from the trolls. They seemed to have been able to stop their companion’s bleeding, but it was lying in the grass with a pained expression. Up close, the sword slashes across all the troll’s arms were visible. Frida had really done a number on them with her sword.

Hilda placed her bow at her feet and put her hands up slowly. “We’re here to help,” She called.

The two sitting trolls looked up and began to growl at the humans’ proximity. The largest one began to rise.

“David- Play your song!” Hilda hissed.

David fumbled with his lute for a dangerous second before hitting a magic-imbued chord. He played his healing song once more, though Hilda could hear the parts where it was slightly different due to improvisation.

The trolls relaxed, and the cuts on their arms began to knit themselves back together. As David finished the song, the troll on the ground sat up. Its companions moved to either side and helped into a standing position. They stared stiffly at Hilda and David for a minute. David stumbled backwards to avoid the harsh gaze, and possible, even harsher attack. But the trolls didn't attack. They simply turned and headed up the opposite side of the valley. Hilda watched them closely, and thought she saw the glint of a glowing eye as the one in the middle looked back.

David and Hilda regrouped with Frida back up on the hill. They pulled some rope out of Hilda’s pack and got to work tying a makeshift saddlebag that Twig would be able to carry Odin’s head in. As they did, Hilda explained her hunch.

“Wait, so you’re saying someone else stole the head and left it here to frame the trolls?” Frida asked.

“Maybe… Or they knew we were following them, so they left the head here so we’d fight the trolls and they could come back for it later,” Hilda said.

Frida pulled the last knot tightly and gave it a tug to make sure it was secure. “We need to get back to Trolberg and tell the Headmaster about this right away. Whoever is doing this has a plan. The kingdom could be in real danger.”

“We already walked all day,” David complained, “Do we have to walk all night too? Couldn’t we… Camp somewhere or something?”

“Do you really want to sleep out here? I’d feel better walking back to Trolberg and resting where we’re safe,” Frida countered, “Plus, the sooner we get Odin’s head back to the Knight Academy, the better.”

“No… David’s right. It’s not safe to travel out here in the dark. We should find somewhere to camp until morning,” Hilda interjected.

David pointed into the distance. A warm glow bled from over the crests of a few of the hills. “Well, what’s over there?”

“Maybe a village,” Hilda mused, “We could spend the night there and get going in the morning. Come on, let’s go!”

 

***

 

“And with that, today’s adventure is over,” The Librarian said, folding down her makeshift screen.

“Over? But what’s over the next hill? Who framed the trolls?” Hilda asked.

“And what did they want to do to the Knight Academy with the protection spell gone?” Frida added.

“It’s not been that long, has it? I thought we just started!” David exclaimed, looking up at the clock on the wall.

The Librarian smiled, “I’m glad you liked the game. How does this time next week sound for session 2?”


End file.
